SIN CITY

There are some IT news stories that have high “information” and “technology” value. Then there are ones like this which are a blatant and unmissable excuses for lots of really cool movies stills (especially when it stars Jessica Alba!)

Ok, the techy bit first (needs must). Behind every great film is a great filmmaker and today behind most great filmmakers is a great special effects team. This time around, the guys who make things go BANG! and stuff go SPLURT! used workstations powered by AMD Opteron processors. Great. Now back to the fun stuff.

Texas born director Robert Rodriguez (above left - explains the cowboy hat, ish), the guy behind style fests Desperado, Once Upon A Time in Mexico and the first two Spy Kids films, looks to have outdone himself with his latest flick Sin City. Based around Frank Miller’s legendary comic books (Miller himself – above right – co-directed the picture, while Quentin Tarantino also helped out) of the same name it pieces together three of his tales of urban depravity into one of the most critically acclaimed film noirs in years. (Did I mention Jessica Alba is in it?)

The cast includes Mickey Rourke (below, almost unrecognisable in prosthetics and covered in plasters), Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba (there we go), Brittany Murphy (with the knife, further down), Benicio Del Toro, Rosario Dawson and Josh Hartnett and recreates the look of the charcoal-esque drawings in the comic books by filming almost entirely against a green screen then rendering entire backgrounds and colour schemes from scratch. The effect is similar to the one seen in last year’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow but vastly improved.

Of course, the action is necessarily blood gorged as it should be for any movie based on pulp fiction (a term which came from the cheap paper used to print hardcore detective and crime novels on in the past) with a high body count, but don’t expect it to be without brains. Sin City has garnered a high amount of praise for its more subtle and sensitive musings on inner city life.

The Yanks have it now, but it doesn’t open in the UK until 3 June (damnit). To console us (well, the men) here is another picture of Jessica Alba (below) who - by the way - plays Nancy, a lasso-wielding stripper... Get your link to the official site at the bottom, but whatever you do don’t accidentally (cough, splutter) confuse it with sincity.com.

Incidentally, AMD processors also had a hand in a docu-race pic called Dust to Glory, but it looks crap.

Free Newsletter

Get TrustedReviews' award-winning reviews, opinions and advice delivered to your inbox for free!

By submitting your details, you'll also receive emails from Time Inc. UK, publisher of Trusted Reviews and
other iconic brands about its goods and services, and those of its carefully selected third parties.

Please tick here if you'd prefer not to hear about:

Time Inc.'s goods & services, including all the latest news, great deals and offers

Free Newsletter

Get TrustedReviews' award-winning reviews and advice delivered to your inbox for free!

By submitting your details, you'll also receive emails from Time Inc. UK, publisher of Trusted Reviews and
other iconic brands about its goods and services, and those of its carefully selected third parties.

Please tick here if you'd prefer not to hear about:

Time Inc.'s goods & services, including all the latest news, great deals and offers